As time passed, Kushina's body had long since recovered. The constitution of the Uzumaki clan was not something ordinary people could compare to.
If she had not given birth and then had the Nine-Tails extracted from her, she would not have needed to remain weak for so long.
During the day, Minato cultivated senjutsu at Mount Myōboku. At night he returned home. The family rarely left Konohagakure, and since the two of them were themselves extremely powerful, they did not require many guards.
Aside from their routine rotations, most of the time of the Shadow Guard Unit led by Makoto, along with Kakashi's team, was now spent carrying out Anbu missions.
Some matters were not convenient for regular ninja squads to handle and required the Anbu to resolve them quietly behind the scenes.
In the forest on the route from Konohagakure toward the Land of Hot Water, a group of four moved swiftly between the great trees.
A moment later, Makoto, who was leading in front, raised a hand to signal the companions behind him and said, "Let's rest for a while. The mission time is sufficient. There's no need to rush the journey—maintain enough stamina."
Upon hearing this, Hayate, Yūgao, and Yamato gathered beside him and rested on the spot.
Because Makoto was a sensory ninja, they were not afraid of being ambushed and were relatively relaxed.
As the captain of the Shadow Guard Unit, whenever Makoto went out on missions, the people following behind him were usually either the three of them or Genma's team. Whoever happened to be free would go, ensuring that everyone had the opportunity to gain experience outside the village.
Yūgao liked the feeling of going on missions, but she did not like war.
"I thought the war had already ended. I didn't expect things to become like this again. Captain, the war isn't going to continue, is it?"
Makoto replied, "There will be friction, but a large-scale war is unlikely. The major shinobi villages all need time to recuperate and restore their strength."
"That's for the best."
Hayate held a different view.
"Cough, cough."
"It's hard to say. I've heard the people of Kirigakure aren't behaving themselves lately."
"But they haven't launched another direct large-scale invasion like before, have they? Right now they only dare to stir up trouble on the Uzushiogakure Peninsula. In the end, they still don't want to be dragged into another war."
While replying, Makoto quietly sensed Hayate's condition.
This guy's strength had definitely grown much faster than in the original timeline, but the problems with his body were also gradually becoming more serious. He could forcibly endure it during missions, but outside of missions his coughing had become more and more frequent.
A hereditary condition from his mother had left his lungs with a congenital defect. The Konoha Hospital could only prescribe medicine for recuperation; it could not cure it completely. At present, Makoto had no solution either.
As for what he had said about Kirigakure being restless, that was indeed true.
The losses Konohagakure had suffered during the Nine-Tails incident had made its enemies see an opportunity. However, they did not dare invade again and instead frantically probed around the borders of the Land of Fire.
Kumogakure was attempting to draw the Land of Hot Water over to its side.
As for the Uzushiogakure Peninsula, there was no Daimyō there. The Uzumaki clan had been its rulers, and after the destruction of Uzushiogakure, it had been brought under the administration of the Land of Fire.
But now, a force had suddenly appeared, claiming to be descendants of the Uzumaki clan and seemingly intending to use that name to separate this place and make it independent again.
Without even having red hair, they still had the nerve to call themselves the Uzumaki clan? After investigating, Konoha discovered that Kirigakure was behind it.
The Third Hokage directly handed this matter over to the Uchiha clan to handle, giving them something to do and also easing their resentment over being kicked out of Konoha's central district.
It was basically a slap followed by a sweet date.
For people of a battle clan, being sent out to fight was the sweet date. Their way of thinking was peculiar and different from other people's.
Yamato had already grown used to this team atmosphere. Unlike missions with Root ninja, where they remained silent almost the entire time, the atmosphere in the Anbu was not oppressive. Aside from their clothing and masks, they were not much different from a normal ninja squad.
However, their basic discipline was still there. They only engaged in ordinary conversation and would not discuss topics involving secrets.
Curious, he asked, "You all took part in the previous war, didn't you? How was it different from ordinary missions?"
Yūgao said, "It was more brutal. Death was everywhere. Every ninja who did not belong to Konoha was an enemy you might encounter. Well, in any case, it was not a good experience."
"Is that so?"
He had always been raised by Danzō as a treasure and regarded as a secret weapon, yet as soon as he left the beginner's village, he ended up facing the final boss and was successfully harvested as experience.
Of course, he felt that for himself, it was a good thing.
A little while later, Makoto ordered, "The break is over. Continue moving."
...
Whether war would break out again or not, Konoha had increased the number of troops stationed along all its borders, including the direction of its ally Sunagakure.
But its main strength was still concentrated in the southeast and the north.
After all, Kumogakure and Kirigakure were the most active in stirring things up. They had not signed peace agreements with Konoha, which meant that, in fact, the war between both sides had never ended.
By evening, Makoto's group arrived within the borders of the Land of Hot Water. After verifying their identities, they entered the Konoha garrison camp deployed there.
The commander in charge there was an old acquaintance of Makoto's, Nara Suzaku. Through certain features, he recognized Makoto and two others, but he did not point it out.
He also understood the Anbu's rules.
"Jōnin Suzaku, Anbu Owl Squad has arrived to provide support. I am Captain Forest Owl. Now, please brief us on the mission."
"Understood. At present, the Daimyō of the Land of Hot Water does not have much time left. The position of Daimyō ought to be inherited by his eldest son, and their stance has always leaned toward our Konoha."
"But recently, the Daimyō's second son has received the support of forces behind the scenes and has become unusually active. He has begun making moves against his elder brother and his supporters, attempting to replace him."
"Forces behind the scenes? People from Kumogakure, right?"
"It is definitely them. It is just that ninja are not in a position to interfere in a nation's Daimyō succession, so the ninja on both sides cannot appear in large numbers in the capital of the Land of Hot Water."
"Previously, at the request of the young lord of the Land of Hot Water, we sent people to investigate. But those who went were either killed or unable to track the other party, which is why we requested support from the Anbu."
"So the mission is to find the supporters of the Daimyō's second son and eliminate them, correct?"
"Yes. In addition, if possible, please also investigate the intelligence on Kumogakure's ninja so that we can analyze the intentions behind their troop deployment this time."
"Understood."
After hearing the briefing and receiving the detailed mission intelligence from Nara Suzaku, Makoto and the other three set out once more, heading toward the capital of the Land of Hot Water.
Villages in the shinobi world were relatively backward, but cities were generally prosperous. The divide between the two was severe.
However, the capital, which used to be brightly lit with a lively nightlife, now had only sparse lights and few people in sight. The residents behaved as if they were avoiding some kind of plague.
After Makoto's group infiltrated the city, they quickly entered a hot spring inn. After exchanging the code phrase, they were led by the owner into a secret room inside.
On the surface, the innkeeper was a resident of the Land of Hot Water, but in reality he was a covert contact developed here by Konoha's Anbu. Only Anbu ninja had the authority to activate it.
This kind of situation was normal; the intelligence systems of the major ninja villages all operated like this.
In fact, there were certainly also covert contacts of Root within the city. It was just that no one knew where they were. Danzō always did things this way—his own intelligence network would not be shared with the Hokage's Anbu.
It could only be said that Hiruzen had been too indulgent with him to allow even this kind of situation.
Facing the contact, Makoto asked directly, "What is going on here? Why do the people in the city all seem to be hiding in their homes as if they were avoiding a disaster?"
The innkeeper was a fair-skinned, chubby middle-aged man who looked like an ordinary person. In fact, he really was an ordinary person; there were no traces of chakra having ever been refined within his body.
Smiling, he replied, "Ninja-sama, recently a group of ninja of unknown identity has appeared in the city, often committing crimes at night."
"Although their targets are the ministers and nobles of this country, ordinary people they encounter on the road are also silenced. Under such circumstances, who would still dare go out? It has even left us without any business."
"I see. Tell me about the intelligence you have."
"Yes. This matter is no longer a secret. Everyone can guess that it was done by the Daimyō's second son. The purpose is to force those people to change their stance and support him in becoming the new Daimyō."
"However, there is no evidence for this, because no one knows where that group of unidentified ninja is hiding, nor how long this will continue. That is why the atmosphere in the city is so tense."
His intelligence was roughly the same as what Suzaku had.
So now, what Makoto needed to do was find the hiding place of that group and then eliminate them.
But perception was not omnipotent, and the Byakugan was not either. If it were that easy to find them, the capital of the Land of Hot Water would not have fallen into panic.
"Do their attacks follow any pattern?"
"No. However, they are very frequent. If that group does not appear tonight, there is a high probability they will act again tomorrow night."
"Alright, I understand."
...
Although the capital of the Land of Hot Water was not small, it was not difficult for Makoto. Unfortunately, after circling the city and sensing through it once, he found nothing.
Ordinary barriers could not block his perception. In other words, the other party had either used a more sophisticated concealment barrier, hidden deep underground, or was outside the city.
Makoto was too lazy to search outside the city like looking for a needle in the ocean. In any case, the other party would launch another attack. They only needed to stay in the city and wait.
Ninja were never lacking in patience.
In the eastern district of the capital of the Land of Hot Water, the buildings were sparsely distributed. There were no modern high-rise structures; instead, large and small courtyards of an ancient style could be seen everywhere. It was the residential area of the powerful ministers and nobles of the Land of Hot Water.
Inside the Daimyō's palace, Makoto found an empty house and had the team hide there to rest while waiting for the prey to come to them.
Since the attacks were directed at the ministers of the Land of Hot Water, they did not even need to deploy perception. If fighting broke out outside, they would quickly notice it.
After several attacks, the ministers were now protected by ninja of their own country. When both sides clashed, the commotion would not be small.
When they were bored, Yūgao asked, "Hey, the eldest son of the Daimyō of the Land of Hot Water is the second son's older brother, right? Does he intend to kill his own brother?"
Although her strength was not bad, she was still quite young. Some matters were still difficult for someone like her, who valued familial affection, to understand.
Hayate said, "They might only be half-brothers. I read in books that a Daimyō has more than one wife."
"What? Isn't a man supposed to have only one wife?"
Hayate replied, "Not really. Monogamy is just something people are used to. In fact, even now the laws of the various countries do not explicitly stipulate it. Daimyō and nobles, for the sake of family succession, do not marry only one wife. Some wealthy merchants are the same."
Yamato did not say anything. He was an honest person and simply felt that anyone who married so many wives must be physically weak. Women were indeed frightening.
Yūgao quietly glanced at Makoto and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, ninja did not have the habit of marrying multiple wives.
"If they were not born of the same mother, he is still his brother. Is the position of Daimyō more important than one's brother?"
Makoto explained, "This is normal. Whoever becomes the Daimyō gains control of an entire country. In the face of such immense power, no one talks about family affection."
Struggles for the heir's position had always been like this.
These people were not the Uchiha clan of love, where everyone was the ultimate brocon or brother-lover.
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